In the 65-year history of Ferrari, V12 gran turismos are some of the most evocative cars that ever rolled out of Maranello. Gorgeous to behold, big and insanely powerful, these front-engined behemoths simultaneously conjured images of luxurious peregrination and the winning podium for tough endurance races.

Up to the early Sixties and the realisation of the superior agility and better aerodynamics of a mid-engined configuration, big V12 GTs such as the original 275 GTB, the 1968 365 GTB/4 Daytona and even the 1996 550 Maranello, did two jobs, racing and touring (grandly). Ferrari has persevered with the GT notion, however, through the 2002 575M and 2006 599, culminating in the monstrous 2010 599 GTO.

And now we have the F12, a replacement front-engined V12 and, at 730bhp, the most powerful road-going Ferrari ever built. The figures are boggling. This 6,262cc, 65-degree V12 is loosely based on the Enzo block, with direct fuel injection - it revs out at a screaming 8,700rpm. The compression ratio is a barely believable 13.5:1, and the piston crowns only survive thanks to meticulous control of combustion. The intake plenum chambers that sit atop the engine look like a couple of red crackle-finish ant eaters under the bonnet.

A seven-speed, twin-clutch gearbox sits in a transaxle and is operated via paddles behind the steering wheel. Top speed is 211mph, 0-62mph takes 3.1sec, the Combined fuel consumption is 18.8mpg with carbon dioxide emissions of 350g/km. It goes on sale next spring at £239,736, halfway between the outgoing 599 GTB (£212,096) and the GTO (£299,950) – a bargain, then.

Like the first Audi A8s, Jaguar’s XJ, the new Mercedes-Benz SL and the forthcoming new Range Rover, the F12’s space frame and coachwork is all aluminium. Four hollow die castings sit at each corner, connected with extruded and sheet material, which is glued, riveted, welded and bolted together. Two more castings sit at each end of the transmission tunnel, spreading loads and distributing impact forces – the F12 passes world-wide crash requirements to 2018.

The F12’s transmission tunnel is narrower as the serendipity of more accurate combustion means the deletion of bulky start-up exhaust catalysts and the stronger frame means there’s no torque tube. As a result, the engine and seats are about an inch lower than in the FF, so the F12 is lower and shorter than its predecessor, with better weight distribution.

While it’s no svelte beauty, the coachwork has some charming detail, with those “air-bridge” ducts on the front wings, which move air off the bonnet on to the side of the car. The fastback rear marks a welcome return for the windcheating cut-off tail of Dr Wunibald Kamm. The bonnet duct isn’t there for cooling but to improve the aerodynamics at the base of the screen, and the latest carbon-ceramic brake discs are cooled via ducts, which open according to the rotor’s temperature.

Is aluminium an appropriate material with which to build a modern sports coupé? This is no ordinary aluminium. Twelve different alloys are used resulting in a 110lb weight saving in body-in-white over the 599, and it is also stiffer.

“Carbon-fibre would not be appropriate for this sort of car,” says Roberto Fedeli, the project’s technical director. He explains that the F12 is more than a 599 replacement. “For years we have been trying to understand how to make a front-engined car feel like a rear-engined car... We tried to transform the 599 to match the emotion of an eight cylinder, but we kept wondering about the limits of a front-engined car [and] we couldn’t change the 599 chassis of that time. But now we have.”

So not just a GT, but also a mid-engined rival? Best start her up. Initial impressions? Out of the Fiorano test track pits and the engine is docile and creamy. Tread on it a little and the note deepens. Stand on it fully and those twin anteaters screech in accord; if this isn’t escape velocity, it’ll have to do. Fast? You betcha. And the engine never seems to give up.

“Always giving you more,” says Raffaele de Simone, Ferrari’s test driver. Carbon gear-change paddles are perfectly placed and while the torque is so great you can short shift with little loss in performance, the sound of those pistons racing at 8,700rpm is so addictive, you buzz it for the sheer hell of it.

The cabin is dominated by supportive seats, that big yellow rev counter and the steering wheel. The rest is pretty conservative. Can’t understand why, in this aluminium poster child, they included horrible, glinty carbon-fibre trims. There’s a fair bit of space, though, so you could conceivably take it shopping, although the doors are enormous and at 6ft 4in wide, it’s best to avoid the multi-storey. The rear hatch opens into the cabin to extend luggage space up to 500 litres and accommodate a set of skis – 730bhp on snow, now there’s a thought.

The paintwork was fabulous, but overall quality on these pre-production cars wasn’t, with a creaking rattle and a window switch which popped off. I thought the staid cabin was going to annoy me, but I was far too busy having fun. And while I don’t entirely buy the line that the F12 is as much fun driving to the shops as it is on a race track, I catch the drift.

And the handling? “Like the car is attached to your feet,” says de Simone, who’s clearly never seen me kick a football. But there is fluency and uncanny balance. The steering feels sharp, but its response is so linear that you become accustomed to the tiny twitches that turn the machine. The steering hydraulics are almost too powerful, but linear response lends a weird calm to the experience. Of course the body remains flat, of course it turns on a sixpence, it’s a Ferrari. I’m not much cop at the sideways hero shots, but the F12 gives an option of sliding the tail a bit wide to point into the next apex - hey, anyone can be a five-bob Fangio.

Since they fill the wheel arches almost as much as the 20in Michelins, you expect the brakes to be awesome - and they are. Time after time they drag off speed into Fiorano’s scream-in-your-helmet corners and never seem to fade. The major memories of the F12 were of just how much you need to concentrate, because in a funny way, the easier it is to drive, the faster you go and the faster everything seems to happen. Turn everything off and you’ve got a short wheelbase, 730bhp car. So how exactly do you think that’s going to feel? Hairy, sideways, exciting, blood curdling? Yeah, all of those, but there’s still a chassis balance, even if you need de Simone’s reactions to keep up with it.

On the road you need to soften off the damping or you’ll be an habitué of the osteopath’s waiting room, but it rides reasonably, if stiffly. In auto, the engine burbles and gurgles and, if you are light with the throttle, the rev counter will never see the bad-boy side of 2,000rpm.

Is it as agile as a F458? I don’t think so, not quite. For a start there’s more of it (1.6 versus 1.46 tons), that long bonnet intimidates and the quick steering means you never get the impression of driving the car into corners, you just turn and it’s there.

In the end the F12 Berlinetta is a gran turismo in the best sense, although Ferrari is even talking about racing it. All it needs is some more glamorous folk behind the wheel.

Verdict: With the F12, Ferrari has recaptured the spirit of the big, powerful, front-engined GT. An anachronism? A mid-engine might handle marginally better, but that’s not the point. A dinosaur, but one of the great dinosaurs.

Telegraph rating: Four out of five stars

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